Social Value Aotearoa: Whānau Ora conference

The focus in July for Social Value Aotearoa (SVA) was on the Whānau Ora conference and follow up workshop on Day 3. Jeremy Nicholls, CEO of Social Value International and UK was a keynote presenter at the conference.

The Whānau Ora conference was a good opportunity to bring potential partners together, with Ākina Foundation co-leading a workshop with Jeremy Nicholls on Day 2 as well to strengthen our relationship with Ākina and provide an international context to the work SVA is promoting in New Zealand. With both Jeremy Nicholls and Jon Myer (Social Ventures Australia) leading presentations and workshops at the conference we were able to raise the profile of the social value movement across Whānau ora providers and to promote SVA membership.

On day three we hosted a half day follow up workshop “Impact Measurement- Start Here” which featured a talk from Jeremy Nicholls and workshops from Emily and Shona from Ākina Foundation and Jon Myers. The workshops focused on providing starting points for organisations to begin to measure their impact as a complimentary alternative to the more involved SROI process we have promoted through previous training.

The workshop was promoted with a discount for those who registered as SVA members, resulting in a total of 60 new membership registrations. We were pleased with the variety of new organisations to register with us with representatives from (Kindergarten Assoc, Salvation Army, and The Southern Initiative). It was also a great networking opportunity for us with Aotearoa New Zealand Evaluation Association (ANZEA) in attendance who we met with afterwards and will be looking to cohost a network event with in September.